Coronavirus Australia live news: Greg Hunt to send extra vaccines to Victoria; four more cases in Melbourne, two in aged care
Greg Hunt says 100,000 more Pfizer and 115,000 AstraZeneca doses will be offered to Victoria; four new cases, two in aged care.
- Two more cases in Melbourne aged care home
- ‘We are neck and neck with the virus’
- Pressure to ease lockdown
- $32m more for tourism sector
- Mental health data kept secret
Welcome to live updates on the latest news from Australia’s battle with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced additional vaccine doses will be made available to Victoria. A further two cases of Covid-19 have been reported in aged care in Victoria, on top of two infections announced earlier this morning, bringing to four the number of new cases overnight.
Neither James Merlino or health officials will say if the lockdown will end this week saying it was still a “day by day proposition’’ but that the state is “neck and neck with the virus at this stage’’.
Meanwhile, Premier Daniel Andrews is preparing to return to work with Andrews’s wife Cath, posting pictures overnight of her husband getting a haircut, in what is a strong hint his return is imminent.
Angelica Snowden7.25pm: Regions locked out of business
Regional Victorians have attacked the state’s fourth lockdown, which will ban Melburnians from travelling on the long weekend, forcing the cancellation of many crucial events.
But in a bid to boost economic recovery in the regions, the state government announced a $32 million package to introduce an extra 10,000 $200 travel vouchers and grants for attraction providers and alpine businesses after Lockdown 4.0.
This came after Acting Premier James Merlino refused to bow to pressure on Sunday to wind back Covid-19 restrictions, which will stop anyone leaving metropolitan Melbourne on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
Heathcote on Show is a popular annual wine festival held in central Victoria and its chief organiser Peter Maine said six months worth of planning was thrown away last Thursday when the event was cancelled.
“If Melbourne is closed, Heathcote is closed. Or close to it,” Mr Maine, 68, said.
“The knock-on effect is gigantic. We spent hundreds of hundreds of hours pulling the festival together. How do we stop this happening again?
Christina Lamb6.40pm: We’re kidding ourselves if we think this means freedom
On Wednesday I emerged from a tent in a car park in Roehampton feeling invincible. It wasn’t as glam as the setting for my first Covid-19 vaccination — the Science Museum in London, where, slightly alarmingly, they found on their computer system a person in Blackpool with exactly the same name and date of birth as me — but joining the 50 per cent of the adult population in this country to have received both jabs still felt damn good.
Some of those queuing in the tent were fearful. I watched staff patiently explain the benefits (as well as the updated side-effects) to a trembling lady who said the rest of her family were against the vaccine but she had lost her aunt to the disease.
In the US they go one step further. In their drive to try to get 70 per cent of adults vaccinated by the Fourth of July, they are offering incentives such as free childcare and Xboxes, and the chance to win flights, cruises and a year’s supply of groceries. Krispy Kreme is handing out doughnuts while Budweiser is promising free drinks if the country reaches the 70 per cent goal. “Get a shot and have a beer,” declared President Biden.
Paige Taylor 5.55pm: Positive test a day after leaving quarantine
A maritime worker who tested negative for coronavirus on his 10th day in hotel quarantine in Perth has returned a positive result a day after his release.
The man returned to Australia from Columbia via the US on May 21, was taken to hotel quarantine at the Pan Pacific and tested positive for coronavirus. He tested negative on his 10th day in the hotel and was released on Friday after completing 14 days of hotel quarantine. The man then stayed at the Ibis Hotel in Perth on Friday night, where he dined. He visited an Optus store in the Murray Street mall in the city and a chemist before the test administered by his employer was found to be positive on Saturday.
The test result was a “moderate” positive and on Sunday a further test was a “weak” positive.
Dr Robertson said there was no major concern about community safety and no close contacts.
The man wore a mask while he was moving around Perth on Friday and Saturday.
READ MORE:We’re kidding ourselves if we think this means freedom
Sharri Markson5.15pm: Plans drawn up to hold China to account on Covid
Donald Trump wanted to haul Anthony Fauci in front of a presidential commission to give evidence about funding the Wuhan laboratory suspected of leaking Covid-19.
Advanced plans were underway for the special presidential panel, with an executive order even drawn up to hold China and its collaborators accountable and tally a reparations bill to fire off to Beijing.
But Mr Trump’s senior advisers talked him out of the idea as it was about to be announced, according to insider accounts detailed in a soon-to-be released book on the origins of Covid-19, What Really Happened in Wuhan.
In another bombshell revelation from the book, United States officials suspected China had developed a vaccine for Covid-19 prior to the outbreak, with the claims included in a “sensitive but unclassified” internal report.
The book also reveals Joe Biden scrapped a push by the State Department’s Arms, Control, Verification and Compliance Unit to formally confront China in Geneva over its cover-up of Covid-19 and potential breaches of the biological weapons convention in the Wuhan lab.
And in a revelation set to embarrass the intelligence community, United States intelligence agencies sought advice on whether the virus was zoonotic — derived from bats — or could have a laboratory origin from the very scientists who had spent 15 years working closely with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, including EcoHealth Alliance’s Peter Daszak and University of North Carolina’s Ralph Baric.
Gerard Cockburn4pm:Victorians to score $200 vouchers
Victorians will be handed 10,000 new $200 vouchers to help regional hospitality and tourism businesses hit hard by the coronavirus lockdown.
Acting Premier James Merlino announced a $32.2 million package on Sunday to support the tourism industry, including 10,000 new travel vouchers on offer. “Today we are announcing a $32.2 million package, made up of $16 million to provide a further round of the very popular regional tourism vouchers,” Mr Merlino said.
Regional travel vouchers will be valued at $200 each. An additional 70,000 unclaimed vouchers from a previous scheme are also on offer. The new vouchers equate to about $2 million dollars and not the total $16 million specified by the acting premier.
“A $16 million investment will fund a fourth release of popular regional travel vouchers – 10,000 new vouchers and 70,000 vouchers allocated through previous rounds but not claimed,” the Victorian government said in a statement.
“A release date for the vouchers and travel windows will be advised in due course.”
A further $11.8 million will be spent on $4500 payments to businesses, resulting in all Victorian tourism operators receiving a total of $7000 in support during the snap lockdown.
The government has also implemented a $4.4 million package for ski and mountain operators.
Alpine businesses will receive grants of up to $15,000 to help them comply with Covid-19 restrictions.
The travel voucher scheme will be extended by three weeks due to lockdown restrictions.
“Travel vouchers provide a terrific incentive for Victorians to explore their own backyard and we know from recent experience that they will be popular,” Victorian Tourism Minister Martin Pakula said.
READ MORE: Australian hospitality workers, where the bloody hell are you?
Scott Henry3.30pm:WA, ACT record zero new cases
The Department of Health has reported no new cases of Covid overnight in Western Australia.
The State’s total remains at 1018. WA Health is monitoring one active case – 1008 people have recovered from the virus in WA. Yesterday, 448 people were swabbed at WA Health COVID clinics.
The ACT also recorded no new cases and has no active cases. Some 54,000 vaccinations were reported over the past 24 hours.
•ACT COVID-19 update (6 June 2021)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) June 6, 2021
•Cases today: 0
•Active cases: 0
•Total cases: 124
•Recovered: 121
•Lives lost: 3
•Test results (past 24 hours): 575
•Negative tests: 218,195
•Total COVID-19 vaccinations: 54,825
•Information source https://t.co/YGW9pOHG3epic.twitter.com/Sn9tpInxNh
Scott Henry3pm:SA records two new cases in quarantine
Two new cases of Covid have been reported in South Australia both in a medi-hotel.
Today’s cases are a man in his 60s and a man in his 40s who are both considered to have old infections. A man in his 60s remains in Royal Adelaide hospital in a stable condition.
South Australian COVID-19 update 6/6/21. For more information, go to https://t.co/mYnZsGpayo or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/FpZGesNc4H
— SA Health (@SAHealth) June 6, 2021
Rhiannon Down2.15pm:Hunt announces extra vaccine doses for Victoria
Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced additional vaccine doses will be made available to Victoria. He said an extra 100,000 Pfizer doses will be sent from June 14 to immunise 50,000 Victorians.
“This week will allow them to work through some of their existing inventory and will provide that extra 100,000 doses which will support 50,000 individuals receive vaccines over the coming weeks,” he said.
“That is a recognition of the very strong work being done here in Victoria and the strong demand. We want to see other states and territories have that same degree of public support and confidence. It is going well around the country but always we push for more.”
The commonwealth will also double the amount of AstraZeneca doses from 115,000 to 230,000 to the state’s GP network.
Mr Hunt has commended Victorians for stepping up to get vaccinated, as thousands race to roll up their sleeves as the state battles a third wave.
Mr Hunt said more than half of over 70s in the state have now received a vaccine, in another record week for the state.
“We know that in Victoria in lockdown, this is a difficult and challenging time so that is why in response to the way in which Victorians in particular have stepped up,” he said.
“We are now at over 58 per cent of over 70s in Victoria who have been vaccinated, and over 42 per cent of all people over 50 who have been vaccinated.”
Mr Hunt said Saturday was a national record with more than 88,000 Australians receiving their jab, bringing the total number of those vaccinated to 772,750 people.
He added that no Australian was currently in ICU with the virus and that no deaths were recorded for the duration of 2021, placing the country in a unique position globally.
“Another important health outcome is that I’ve been advised by the National Incident Centre that there are no Australians in ICU or ventilation with COVID-19,” he said.
“While any Australian contracts the disease, there is always the risk of serious illness, hospitalisation or loss of life, but at this moment, we have no Australians in ICU and to this point in 2021, no Australian has caught COVID in Australia and lost their lives to it.
“We have had one Australian who was diagnosed in quarantine, having contracted it overseas and lost their life but it is an extraordinary and important public health achievement today.”
Scott Henry2pm:Queensland records two cases in quarantine
Queensland has recorded two new cases of Covid on Sunday. Both cases were overseas acquired and detected in hotel quarantine. The positive results bring the total number of cases in the state to 1632.
Queensland #COVID19 update 6/6/21
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) June 6, 2021
Queensland has recorded 2 new cases of COVID-19 today.
Both cases were overseas acquired and detected in hotel quarantine.
Full details can be found here: https://t.co/kapyXpSIAP
Alex Leary1.45pm:Trump demands $10 trillion in Covid reparations
Former President Donald Trump, in one of his first public appearances since leaving office, tore into the policies of President Biden and said China should pay the world $10 trillion in reparations over Covid-19.
“Our movement is far from over. In fact, it is just getting started,” Mr. Trump said Saturday night in a lengthy campaign-style speech to North Carolina Republicans that underscored his plan to remain a force in the GOP.
“The time has come for the United States to demand reparations from the Communist Party of China. We should all declare in one unified voice that China must pay" - Donald Trump said during live speech at GOP convention pic.twitter.com/ZAkFRUEhUE
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 6, 2021
Boasting of his push to develop Covid-19 vaccines, Mr Trump turned to renewed attention over whether the virus might have started with a laboratory leak in China. He called for $10 trillion in compensation and the imposition of a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made goods.
“The time has come for America and the world to demand reparations and accountability from the Communist Party of China,” he said. “We should all declare within one unified voice that China must pay.” The Chinese government has previously dismissed questions about a possible lab leak as a smear campaign.
Late last month, Joe Biden ordered a US intelligence inquiry into the origins of the virus, saying there is a divergence among officials in the American intelligence community on how the virus emerged, whether from an accident at a laboratory or from human contact with an infected animal.
Read the full story here.
AFP1.20pm:Moment golf champion was told he was Covid positive
Defending champion Jon Rahm was forced to withdraw from the US PGA Memorial tournament following a positive Covid-19 test after having seized a six-stroke lead with a stunning third round at Muirfield Village.
Rahm had tested negative for four consecutive days only to return a positive test from a sample collected Saturday morning, after he made an ace at the par-3 16th in concluding his darkness-halted second round with a two-shot lead.
World number three Rahm fired an impressive eight-under par 64 in Saturday’s third round, matching all-time records with an 18-under 198 score for 54 holes and a six-stroke lead at the famed Dublin, Ohio, layout.
Surreal TV moment as six-stroke leader Jon Rahm learns he tested positive for COVID and Jim Nantz tries to make sense of it without knowing what Rahm's been told pic.twitter.com/WvD6LmAlxs
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) June 5, 2021
Rahm’s Saturday test was returned as positive while he was on the course in his third round, the tour said, and a second test requested by a PGA medical adviser also came back positive just before Rahm finished the third round.
When told of the result just off the 18th green, Rahm bent forward, his head in his hands and at his knees, then rose and yelled, “Not again.” Rahm had been dazzling on the back nine with a stretch of six birdies in seven holes to stand on 18-under 198 after 54 holes and six strokes ahead in Dublin, Ohio.
Read the full story here.
Angelica Snowden1pm:Minister confident AFL grand final will be in Melbourne
Victoria’s jobs, tourism and sport minister Martin Pakula said he has “absolute confidence” the AFL grand final will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“It is very easy to forget that it was only just over one month ago that we had almost 80,000 at the MCG for the Anzac day clash. I speak to the AFL most days,” Mr Pakula said.
“The fact is one of the reasons we are doing what we’re doing now, as the acting (premier) says, running this into ground and snuff it out, is we know there are a lot of incredibly important stuff happening in the second half of the year,” he said.
“We have school holidays a few weeks away, grand final, Melbourne Cup and the Boxing Day test.”
Mr Pakula said the government wants to “be back in the situation we were” where “we had large crowds, full restaurants, business trading profitably”.
“We are going to try get back to the position as soon as we possibly can,” he said.
His comments came after Perth Stadium said it will look to pull off an AFL grand final heist if Victoria’s repeated inability to control coronavirus threatens the return of 100,000 fans to the MCG on September 25.
Perth Stadium boss Mike McKenna said last night’s Essendon-Richmond extravaganza served as a reminder that the AFL should only consider moving its grand final to a traditional football state. “People in Western Australia, South Australia or even Tasmania have put in a lot over the years to make the game what it is today and deserve to be part of the celebration of those events,” McKenna said. “We were ready last year, and we’ll be ready this year.
READ MORE: Perth Stadium ready to make serious play for this year’s grand final
Angelica Snowden12.30pm:Two more cases confirmed in Melbourne aged care
A further two cases of Covid-19 have been reported in aged care in Victoria, on top of two infections announced earlier this morning.
The facility, Arcare in Maidstone, reported the cases of a 79-year-old resident and a registered nurse.
“(The) 79-year-old resident lives in close proximity to the first two residents diagnosed. The second (case) is an agency registered nurse who last worked yesterday,” the statement read.
The resident has received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine and is asymptomatic. They will be transferred to hospital.
The nurse also received the first dose of vaccine and is asymptomatic.
All team members who worked at the facility in Melbourne’s northwest will have to get tested and isolate for two weeks.
Covid-19 testing will be conducted every two days in a bid to manage the outbreak.
READ MORE: Finding link between Arcare cluster and wider community outbreak
Christine Kellett12.15pm:Victoria to spend a further $32m for tourism sector
The Victorian government will spend a further $32 million to prop up its floundering local tourism sector, with $7000 support payments and tens of thousands of extra tourism vouchers, as the state’s ski season begins.
Acting Premier James Merlino announced the package at a press conference on Sunday, revealing 80,000 additional vouchers worth $11.8 million would be made available for Victorians to use on local travel.
Support grants of up to $15,000 each will also be made available to alpine resort operators.
“This is an acknowledgement that when you think about the ski season, and the and the disruption in terms of the lockdown, travel has been restricted for Melburnians,” Mr Merlino said on Sunday.
“This is particularly disproportionately going to impact our alpine resorts.”
Support payments of up to $5,000 each will also be made available to off-mountain tour operators, he said.
Alpine businesses are angry after being told last week that Melburnians would be shut out of regional Victoria on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, even if lockdown is lifted from midnight next Thursday.
READ MORE: Ski ban leaves operators a little off piste
Angelica Snowden12.15pm:Merlino speaks of ‘carefully easing’ restrictions in regions
Authorities hope to “carefully ease” restrictions in Melbourne on Friday and further relax restrictions in regional Victoria, acting Premier James Merlino said.
“We all want to get back to the point we were a couple of weeks ago in terms of crowds… and people living and working as normally as possible in a COVID-safe way,” he said.
“The only way that we can get there is by following public health advice, having this period of lockdown, so we could drive this thing to the ground.
“The last thing we want to see is this variant of the virus getting out, and becoming uncontrollable.”
READ MORE:Take the advice but don’t twist it
Angelica Snowden11.55am:‘We are neck and neck with a virus at this stage’
Victoria’s deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng would not reveal whether a lockdown imposed on metropolitan Melbourne would be lifted on Thursday night, saying it was a “day by day proposition”.
“We are neck and neck with a virus at this stage. We are finding there are a small number of exposure sites but most people we are seeing are already in quarantine and therefore there is no downstream risk from there,” he said.
“What we are somewhat concerned about is the upstream, so for these cases we can’t find, who gave them the infection.
“It is a day by day proposition. That is our expectation but we don’t want to be in this any longer than we need.”
READ MORE: The beast that has eaten our brains
Angelica Snowden11.35am:New Vic cases are close contacts of other cases
Acting Premier James Merlino has confirmed the two new local cases of Covid are known primary contacts of existing cases who have been isolating.
One is linked with the Delta variant outbreak in West Melbourne, and is a teacher from a North Melbourne Primary School.
The other is an employee of the Stratton Finance Port Melbourne company.
The state’s deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said authorities are still investigating how the infectious strain of Covid-19 - the Delta variant which originated from India - had escaped into the community.
“We are continuing investigations into the source of the delta variant outbreak,” Professor Cheng said. “The sequence data has been run against the national database and we have contacted all the other labs in the country to make sure all that sequence data is up-to-date,” he said.
He said no new infections were recorded in the Whittlesea cluster, which remained at 29 cases.
There are now 30 cases connected with Port Melbourne, after four previously unlinked cases were reclassified.
An outbreak linked with an aged care facility has reached six.
In total nine cases have been identified with the Delta variant outbreak.
Mr Merlino has also announced a $32 million package for regional Victoria, including $16m for another round of regional tourism vouchers, to fund 80,000 vouchers.
READ MORE: Lockdown has triggered a wake-up call for the nation
Scott Henry 11.15am:Wastewater results reveal areas of concern
Fragments of COVID-19 have been detected in wastewater samples taken recently from the sewer catchment serving several inner west and north suburbs in Melbourne.
Anyone who develops COVID-19 symptoms is strongly encouraged to get tested, especially if you live in or have visited any of these suburbs: Aberfeldie, Essendon, Essendon West, Flemington, Footscray, Kensington, Maribyrnong, Moonee Ponds, Parkville and Travancore.
Fragments of COVID-19 have been detected in wastewater samples taken recently from the sewer catchment serving several inner west and north suburbs in Melbourne. [1/5] pic.twitter.com/B7W4Jceovj
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 6, 2021
The unexpected detections may be due to someone who has had COVID-19 that is no longer infectious continuing to ‘shed’ the virus or it may be due to an active but undiagnosed infectious case.
READ MORE: Ready or not, the nation will reopen
Scott Henry11am:NSW records no new locally acquired cases
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases of Covid in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
However, five overseas-acquired cases were recorded in the same period, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,406. NSW Health is treating 20 COVID-19 cases, none of whom are in intensive care
There were 17,524 tests reported to 8pm, compared with 19,403 the previous day. NSW Health administered some 7483 vaccines, including 5519 at the vaccination hub at Sydney’s Olympic Park in Homebush.
There were 17,524 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 19,403.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 6, 2021
NSW Health administered 7,483 #COVID19vaccines in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, including 5,519 at the vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park. pic.twitter.com/bvEplRgxa0
NSW Health is continuing to ask anyone who lives in Gundagai, Goulburn, Jervis Bay, Huskisson, HyamsBeach or Vincentia, or has visited these areas since May 19, to be especially vigilant for symptoms after four travellers who later tested positive for COVID-19 spent time there.
Ongoing investigations by NSW Health into the movements of the cases has so far identified 219 people as close contacts. None have tested positive to date, and the contacts who attended venues of concern within the past 14 days are continuing to self-isolate.
READ MORE: Victoria is failing. This can’t go on
AFP10.30am:Boris to urge G7 to vaccinate world by end of 2022
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at next week’s G7 summit will urge leaders to commit to vaccinate the whole world against coronavirus by the end of 2022, Downing Street said.
Britain will host the event in Cornwall in southwestern England starting June 11 with leaders of France, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United States and Canada attending.
The British PM will call on fellow G7 leaders to make concrete commitments to “vaccinate the entire world against coronavirus by the end of 2022”, the statement said.
“Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the single greatest feat in medical history,” the Prime Minister was quoted as saying.
Mr Johnson added that “the world is looking to us to rise to the greatest challenge of the post-war era: defeating Covid and leading a global recovery driven by our shared values”.
Downing Street pointed to the British government’s successes in backing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and making it available at cost price around the world, as well as its support for the Covax scheme providing supplies to developing countries.
But facing growing calls to ensure a fairer global distribution of vaccine doses, the G7 health ministers at a meeting on Friday failed to break new ground, reiterating previous commitments to share doses through Covax “as soon as possible”.
Later this week Johnson will announce more detail on plans by the British government to “share a significant majority of its surplus doses”.
Britain’s efficient vaccine rollout has caused cases and hospitalisations to fall massively, but some experts warn that rising numbers of cases of the new “Delta” variant could threaten this progress.
The variant first identified in India is reportedly more easily transmitted and more likely to cause serious illness. Cases of the virus in the UK have recently begun rising more steeply, even though 27 million adults have received both jabs. Britain already has the highest number of Coronavirus deaths in Europe, at 127,823.
READ MORE:Ministers, Facebook hail G7 plan for 15 per cent minimum corporate tax globally
Patrick Commins10.15am:We need purpose-built quarantine: Marles
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles says purpose-built facilities should carry the bulk of responsibility for quarantining returning Australians, saying that hotels are not “fit for purpose”.
Mr Marles told the ABC this morning the cost of building such facilities had to be be compared to the costs to businesses and workers of lockdowns due to failure of hotels to contain the virus.
He said the lockdowns in cities over the past six months, including in Melbourne today, have all had their origin in failures of hotel quarantines.
"This is a government who is highly reactive"
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) June 5, 2021
WATCH: @RichardMarlesMP on the government's lack of urgency on purpose-built quarantine facilities #Insiders#auspolpic.twitter.com/a4NcwQWM71
When pressed on whether the Opposition would support the third stage of the legislated personal income tax plan, Mr Marles said “we’ve not made that decision yet” but that “our instinct is we don’t want to get in the way of a tax cut”.
The deputy Labor leader also noted that Labor was “uncomfortable from the start” with the final round of tax cuts for middle and higher income earners.
On China, Mr Marles criticised the government for failing to “get the diplomacy right”, saying that “there is not a relationship of substance between any single member of the Morrison government, and a senior member of the Chinese government”.
He labelled that as “patently inept”.
READ MORE:We see through the rank opportunists, eventually
Sam Landsberger10am:Rival state gears for AFL grand final heist
Perth Stadium will look to pull off an AFL grand final heist if Victoria’s repeated inability to control coronavirus threatens the return of 100,000 fans to the MCG on September 25.
Saturday night’s Dreamtime sellout at Western Australia’s 60,000-seat stadium showed what the $1.6 billion precinct on the banks of the Swan River can pull off at short notice.
Losing football’s biggest day for a second-straight season would be another kick in the guts for Victorians, who have endured more pandemic pain than every other state combined.
Perth Stadium boss Mike McKenna told the Herald Sun the Essendon-Richmond extravaganza served as a reminder that the AFL should only consider moving its grand final to a traditional football state.
“People in Western Australia, South Australia or even Tasmania have put in a lot over the years to make the game what it is today and deserve to be part of the celebration of those events,” McKenna said. “We were ready last year, and we’ll be ready this year.
“We had a very serious crack at it and we think the bid we put in got their serious attention.”
The AFL Commission has locked in a traditional 2.30pm AEST grand final start time, which would see the ball bounced at 12.30pm in Perth.
The AFL was forced to rip last year’s grand final out of Victoria because of the state’s deadly second wave of Covid-19.
Read the full story here.
John Ferguson9.13am:Pressure on Vic government to lift lockdown
Victoria will come under increasing pressure to ease restrictions after just two new cases of community transmission were recorded.
As Premier Daniel Andrews prepares to return to work, a further six cases were announced in hotel quarantine, underlining where the core challenge is for Australian governments.
Mr Andrews’s wife Cath, posted pictures overnight of her husband getting a haircut, in what is a strong hint his return is imminent.
He was due to return to work from about mid June or possibly at the end of the month.
Mr Andrews has kept in close contact with acting premier James Merlino and one of his senior staff.
Much of the rest of his contact has been via text.
The government announced there had been nearly 30,000 coronavirus tests, which is still a high number, especially so on a weekend.
There were nearly 20,000 vaccine doses administered, bringing to 613,914 the total number of doses.
The government is yet to say when the daily press conference will be scheduled.
Health officials have been under pressure after ramping up the rhetoric on the dangers of the so-called Kappa variant of the virus. The more dangerous variant, Delta, is in Victoria as well.
The government has argued strongly that any loosening of restrictions would be viewed through the prism of all factors, including the nature of the clusters and the spread of the virus.
It’s widely accepted that Victoria has strengthened its contact tracing. There are a total of 85 active cases across Victoria.
Melbourne’s third cluster has grown to nine, linked to the more virulent Delta strain.Authorities are focusing on stopping the Delta strain leaking more widely into the community. Experts believe the most likely explanation is that it emanated from hotel quarantine. The larger outbreaks in Victoria came from hotel quarantine in South Australia.
READ MORE:The knives are out for Jeroen Weimar
Angelica Snowden9.01am: Just two new cases recorded in Victoria
Victoria has recorded just two new locally acquired cases, from nearly 30,000 tests
There are now 85 active cases in the state, six of them acquired overseas.
Vaccination rates dropped slightly yesterday to 19,940 doses administered.
It is not known yet how many of the new cases are linked to the mystery Delta strain outbreak, which had grown to nine active cases yesterday.
Reported yesterday: 2 new local cases and 6 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) June 5, 2021
- 19,940 vaccine doses were administered
- 29,816 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco
#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/5mgiIWYPYy
READ MORE:James Kirby — This year’s advice: rip it up and start again
Jack Paynter8.50am:Woolies, Coles, city office on Covid alert
Victoria’s coronavirus venue alerts list have swelled to almost 400 sites overnight after a Woolies, Coles and city office building were added.
The states’s health department made the new additions on Saturday night, with the latest venues joining a list of 390 others across Victoria visited by a confirmed case of Covid-19.
Levels 4 and 5 of the office building at 227 Collins St in Melbourne’s CBD have been listed after a positive Covid case visited.
It has been listed as a tier 1 public exposure site from 9am to 4.40pm on May 31, June 1, 2 and 3.
Woolworths Preston South and the attached BWS at 50 Plenty Road in Preston South was also added to the list on Saturday night after a confirmed case visited the store on June 2 from noon to 12.45pm.
A positive case also visited Greenvale shopping centre at 1-11 Greenvale Drive, Greenvale, on May 29, with Coles Greenvale listed as an exposure site from 3.39pm to 4.19pm.
Psarakos Market at 2/8 Clarendon St, Thornbury, was another venue added on Saturday night after a confirmed case visited the site from 10.30am to 11.30am on June 1.
The health department said the case attended the fish market and the fruit and vegetable section.
The Woolworths, Coles and market have been listed as tier 2 sites.
People who visited the tier 2 sites at the times listed are required to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
Those who visited a tier 1 site are required to get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days.
Among the other inclusions to the list on Saturday were the 7-Eleven Campbellfield, Australia Post at Craigieburn Central and Highland shopping centre, Woolworths Metro Little Collins St, Aki Sushi, BP Greenvale, Craigieburn Central and Quality Fresh Meats, HS Quality Food, Pinoy Tayo Asian Grocery, Fish Pier and Fergusson Plarre Bakehouse at Craigieburn Central.
Victorians have been urged to check the state government’s website for the full and frequently changing list.
READ MORE:Uni taken to task over bogus email ‘in worst possible taste’
Christine Kellett8.25am:Delta could become Australia’s dominant strain
Low daily positive cases out of Victoria should give its locked-down residents hope, says the former head of the AMA, but all eyes are on the Delta variant, which could become Australia’s dominant strain of the virus.
Dr Tony Bartone said just five new local cases yesterday — and the fact that most of them were already isolating when they tested positive — showed contact tracing was working and “gives us significant comfort that we are getting ahead of parts of this outbreak.”
“But clearly the Delta strain vairation is a concern, “ Dr Bartone told the ABC on Sunday.
“The number of Delta case variants is now overtaking the Alpha strain or the UK strain as it was previously called in terms of their case numbers, so clearly that is something to watch. “The fact that we can’t get a general genomic match on two of those cases announced
yesterday is also a concern. We may not known how exactly the origin of this Delta variant came into Melbourne on this occasion.”
Dr Bartone said data out of the UK showed the Delta variant appeared to be more transmissable among children and higher degrees of hospitalisation.
“The toll on life hasn’t been seen at this stage and that could be because English people have such a high degree of vaccination at the moment. So we’re still getting more and more information and clearly the data and the trends over the next few weeks, both locally and overseas, will give us a lot more information about it.”
READ MORE:Delta Covid strain increases risk of hospitalisation.
Jack Paynter8am:Daniel Andrews primes for return to work
Daniel Andrews has received a home haircut from wife Catherine as he prepares to return to work after a serious back injury.
The Victorian Premier has been on leave since March 9 this year after suffering broken ribs and a fractured T7 vertebra when he slipped on wet stairs while holidaying on the Mornington Peninsula.
On Saturday night, his wife Catherine posted a photo to social media of her giving the Premier a haircut at their home in Mulgrave in Melbourne’s east.
“On the tools again. Practice makes perfect. I love this one. Getting better every day,” Ms Andrews tweeted.
On the tools again. Practice makes perfect 💇ðŸ»â€â™‚ï¸ I love this one. Getting better every day. pic.twitter.com/ciNGuHmB5C
— Catherine Andrews (@CathLAndrews) June 5, 2021
Read the full story here.
Agencies7.30am:Belgium to begin vaccinating teenagers
Belgium plans next month to start vaccinating people between the ages of 16 and 17 years old.
“Starting in the month of July, they will start receiving an invitation concerning the first dose,” ministers said in a statement.
They will receive the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus jab, the first vaccine to be approved for children by the European Union medical watchdog.
READ MORE:Military scientist filed vaccine patent within weeks of pandemic beginning
Agencies7am:Cruise ships’ return to Venice reignites tensions
Saturday saw the first cruise ship cast off from Venice after almost one and a half years’ suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic, reinflaming a war of words between supporters and opponents of the massive floating hotels.
With the MSC Orchestra looming over Saint Mark’s square, demonstrators in small motorboats waved banners reading “no to cruise ships”.
“Cruise ships bring a hit and run tourism that actually brings little benefit to Venice,” demonstrator Lucia Tedesco, 57, told AFP.
Concerned for the environment and the city’s cultural heritage, opponents of the ships say they cause large waves that undermine Venice’s foundations and harm fragile ecosystem of its lagoon.
But the UNESCO World Heritage site is also home to fans of the massive vessels, many organised in the “Venice at work” movement.
They say stopoffs by tourist cruises create jobs in a city dependent on tourism -- itself massively undermined by the pandemic.
Around 650 people boarded the MSC Orchestra in Venice after showing a negative coronavirus test less than four days old and passing another on the spot.
AFP
READ MORE:When should Australians start booking holidays?
Alistair Dawber6.30am:Records of nine people ‘may hold key to Covid origin’
The White House’s top medical adviser has called on China to make public the medical records of nine people, which he says may hold the key to the genesis of the coronavirus pandemic.
Anthony Fauci wants Beijing to release details of why three researchers at Wuhan’s Institute of Virology were admitted to hospital in November 2019.
Recent reports have suggested that they had Covid-like symptoms and, if confirmed, it would add grist to the idea that the virus emanated from the laboratory.
China has angrily denied such a suggestion. It says that the virus became prevalent in humans after somebody came into contact with an infected animal.
“I would like to see the medical records of the three people who are reported to have got sick in 2019,” Dr Fauci told the Financial Times. “Did they really get sick and, if so, what did they get sick with?”
He is also interested in the fate of six miners who in 2012 fell ill after entering a bat cave. Three of them died.
Read the full story.
Damon Johnston5.45am:Andrews government keeps mental health data secret
Soaring numbers of children and teenagers are self-harming, battling suicidal thoughts and suffering eating disorders as the long-term trauma of the pandemic and last year’s marathon lockdown continues to hit young Victorians.
A confidential 47-page Andrews government report, seen by The Weekend Australian, reveals alarming levels of mental health emergencies among youths in February and March this year. The Victorian Agency for Health Information report – Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Victoria – reveals “significant variances” on pre-coronavirus levels across key psychiatric categories.
The report shows that in the six weeks to March 28, average weekly emergency department presentations for children and teenagers, aged up to 17, was running at 319, a 27 per cent increase on the 251 cases for the same period in 2020. The number of teenagers rushed to hospital after self-harming and suffering suicidal thoughts spiked by 51 per cent, rising from a weekly average of 98 in 2020 to 148 this year.
The most serious cases, where teenagers have needed resuscitation and emergency care, jumped 44.9 per cent, with the 2020 weekly average of 19.8 rising to 28.7 in 2021.
Doctors and child psychiatrists believe the data – kept under wraps by the Andrews government – confirms the devastating impact of last year’s 111-day lockdown on the mental health of young Victorians.
Doctors have told The Weekend Australian there is a high public interest in the mental health data being released, but the VAHI report is marked “confidential” and doctors are advised that if they receive the report in error they should “destroy it”.
Read the full story here.
Staff reporter5.30am: Alert after viral fragments found in wastewater
Viral fragments have been detected in a wastewater sample retrieved from catchments serving suburbs in Melbourne’s inner-west and north, the Sunday Herald Sun reports.
This detection is “of interest” to the Victorian Health Department, with no confirmed Covid-19 cases in those suburbs.
However, the catchment area contains exposure sites and is near to West Melbourne, where the Delta cluster has emerged.
Residents of and recent visitors to the suburbs of Aberfeldie, Essendon, Essendon West, Flemington, Footscray, Kensington, Maribyrnong, Moonee Ponds, Parkville and Travancore are urged to get tested if they develop any symptoms.
“The unexpected detection may be due to someone who has had COVID-19 that is no longer infectious continuing to ‘shed’ the virus or it may be due to an active but undiagnosed infectious case,” the department says.
It comes after five new locally-acquired cases were recorded on Saturday, with one new case detected in hotel quarantine.
READ MORE: Wastewater testing has revealed Covid fragments
Millie Spencer5.15am: MP labels herself ‘essential worker’ at protest
A Victorian state MP has defended her attendance at an illegal protest at Flinders Street station in Melbourne’s CBD on Saturday.
Independent MP Catherine Cumming was at a small business rally and described herself as “an essential worker’’.
“I’m a member of parliament and I am essential. The media were there, they are essential too,’’ Dr Cumming told the Herald Sun.
“I was not doing anything illegal, just like the media wasn’t doing anything illegal.”
Under current lockdown restrictions, attending a protest is not one of the five reasons to leave one’s home.
“What I am really struggling with at the moment is how government is choosing who and who is not essential, in the way of business,” Ms Cunning said. “I support businesses that have got Covid-safe plans.” Ms Cumming is the Member for the Western Metropolitan Region.
Police arrested a number of anti-lockdown “freedom” protesters who attended the event, while anti-vaxxers also gathered outside Melbourne vaccination centres.
“It is unfortunate that sentiment is in anyone, they represent a small minority,” Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said.
“I should say the vaccine is not mandated, as an individual you are free to not get it if you do not want to get it for yourself.
“I still find some discomfort with that, because we’re all going to be protected with high vaccination coverage, but it is your choice.”
READ MORE:Dan’s party suffers from its own infectious variant
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